Gigabit Ethernet Installation question

Hi there,
I'm using a very old Dell PC plugged into on my home network as a file
server. I basically got a windows 98 machine, installed a 500GB hard
drive in it and left it on all day and night. It's working great but
I'd like to boost speed a little.

Here's what I've got:
D-Link DIR-655 Xtreme N Gigabit
plugged into my old ZyXEL Prestige 660HW
(using it as a DSL modem cause I didnt realise there was no modem in
the D-Link!)

Then on my Desktop I have:
Asus P5NE-SLI Motherboard, 8 Channel Sound, Gigabit LAN, 6 USB2

My Question is:
What would it take to get gigabit ethernet speed on this setup and
will the speed increase be worth the effort/price tag?
Also, while I'm in the area, is there any way I can bypass the ZyXel
modem in the setup above? Could I install a PCI modem on the file
server PC maybe? I'd prefer not to have so many things plugged in all
the time and the number of flashing lights in the room now would make
your head spin!

Thanks for any help!
Ciarán

PS: One last question: I've heard unencrypted wifi setups are far
fasted than WPA encrypted but is there any safe way to implement this?
I'm a friendly enough neighbourhood so just a very basic level of
security would do.

I'm still looking for an answer to this if anyone can help? I'll
summerise below for the lazier readers:

3 Questions:

1. Will a gigabit ethernet card in two PCs and a gigabit router
between them give me gigabit transfer speeds?
2. Is it possible to get a DHL modem that can be installed in the PCI
slot of an old XP machine so that I can plug my router straight into
that?
3. Is there any way to have an unencrypted wifi channel that will ask
for a simple password before connecting the user?

Thanks,
Ciarán

Hi Cron

I doubt very much that you would actually get the Gb throughput you are
looking for. Although you may get a Gb network you then have to contend with
the bottleneck of the disk i/o which is usually the main bottleneck. You
only have single disks so unless you spend and get some striping disk set
you wont gain the performance you are after.


"Cron" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:2e130764-e0c2-4dee-8e9c-(E-Mail Removed)...
I'm still looking for an answer to this if anyone can help? I'll
summerise below for the lazier readers:

3 Questions:

1. Will a gigabit ethernet card in two PCs and a gigabit router
between them give me gigabit transfer speeds?
2. Is it possible to get a DHL modem that can be installed in the PCI
slot of an old XP machine so that I can plug my router straight into
that?
3. Is there any way to have an unencrypted wifi channel that will ask
for a simple password before connecting the user?

Thanks,
Ciarán

On Feb 16, 8:06 pm, "Chris D" <cd...@no.myrealbox.spam.com> wrote:
> Hi Cron
>
> I doubt very much that you would actually get the Gb throughput you are
> looking for. Although you may get a Gb network you then have to contend with
> the bottleneck of the disk i/o which is usually the main bottleneck. You
> only have single disks so unless you spend and get some striping disk set
> you wont gain the performance you are after.

Hi Chris,
Thanks for the reply! That's a pity - things in networking never seem
to be as easy as they look at first glance! Will I get any speed
increase by installing a gigabit PCI card in my server? I mean it will
only cost me EURO 20 for a card so it might still be worth the effort.
Thanks
Ciarán

Between 2 PC's i very much doubt it. If you had 2 hi spec pc's you may get a
slight speed increase. Even on some of our hi end servers we only really hit
a 600Mb high on data transfers.

Standard PC's in a corporate environment won't hammer a 100Mb NIC so unless
you really want to have a GB NIC then save your cash and invest in RAM which
will benefit you more.

Hope this helps

"Cron" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:a7f8cce2-2e08-460d-a857-(E-Mail Removed)...
On Feb 16, 8:06 pm, "Chris D" <cd...@no.myrealbox.spam.com> wrote:
> Hi Cron
>
> I doubt very much that you would actually get the Gb throughput you are
> looking for. Although you may get a Gb network you then have to contend
> with
> the bottleneck of the disk i/o which is usually the main bottleneck. You
> only have single disks so unless you spend and get some striping disk set
> you wont gain the performance you are after.

Hi Chris,
Thanks for the reply! That's a pity - things in networking never seem
to be as easy as they look at first glance! Will I get any speed
increase by installing a gigabit PCI card in my server? I mean it will
only cost me EURO 20 for a card so it might still be worth the effort.
Thanks
Ciarán

On Feb 17, 2:35 pm, "Chris D" <cd...@no.myrealbox.spam.com> wrote:
> Between 2 PC's i very much doubt it. If you had 2 hi spec pc's you may geta
> slight speed increase. Even on some of our hi end servers we only really hit
> a 600Mb high on data transfers.
>
> Standard PC's in a corporate environment won't hammer a 100Mb NIC so unless
> you really want to have a GB NIC then save your cash and invest in RAM which
> will benefit you more.
>
> Hope this helps
>
> "Cron" <cronok...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:a7f8cce2-2e08-460d-a857-(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Feb 16, 8:06 pm, "Chris D" <cd...@no.myrealbox.spam.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi Cron
>
> > I doubt very much that you would actually get the Gb throughput you are
> > looking for. Although you may get a Gb network you then have to contend
> > with
> > the bottleneck of the disk i/o which is usually the main bottleneck. You
> > only have single disks so unless you spend and get some striping disk set
> > you wont gain the performance you are after.
>

OK thanks Chris - it's good to know even if it's not the answer I was
hoping for.
Ciarán